Abstract: Rehabilitation of older stroke patients does not take place isolated from social and medical problems. Nurses and internists are crucial members of the interdisciplinary team, maintaining health and preventing long- and short-term complications in the stroke survivor. This review describes our research interests and clinical approaches to some of the special medical and nursing needs of the population, using prevention as a model for caring for these chronically ill patients and their families.

Abstract: Too often, the role of nursing in geriatric neurorehabilitation is defined in terms of extending the care of other disciplines and assuring continuity of selected aspects of care over 24 hours. This article argues that nursing has made significant clinical and scientific progress in contributing, independently and interdependently, to quality rehabilitation care for older adults; and that the role of nursing clearly exceeds the realm of mere extension and continuity of care. Reviewed are nursing's innovations in the areas of promoting comprehensive assessment; fostering functional independence, self-care, and self-care agency; enhancing communication; encouraging family involvement; improving cognitive status; and assuring…quality physical care. We conclude with a discussion of the relationship of nursing to other disciplines, and how nursing's contributions can be optimized within the broader context of multidisciplinary geriatric rehabilitation.
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Abstract: Vision loss increases dramatically with age but relatively little attention has been paid to blind and low-vision rehabilitation with older adults in the health care literature. The present article describes the nature and etiology of vision loss in older adults and provides an overview of the techniques and technologies available to help older adults overcome the disabilities associated with loss of vision.

Abstract: Physical function can be affected by drug therapy and, in turn, affect the assessment and progress of rehabilitation. Drug therapy can be used, intentionally, to try to improve functional status. However, many drugs can adversely affect physical function. Furthermore, adverse drug effects are unintended, secondary effects of drug therapy and, therefore, often unrecognized. The elderly are at greater risk of experiencing an adverse drug reaction compared to younger patients. Therefore, it is particularly important for the practitioner involved in the rehabilitation of elderly patients to be aware of potential effects of drug therapy on physical function. Several classes…of drugs, likely to be encountered by the geriatric rehabilitation practitioner, are examined with regard to physical function.
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Abstract: The prevalence of psychological depression in elderly patients in medical/rehabilitation/nursing care settings is reviewed, with general levels of 20% to 35% and more specific levels up to 70% being reported for these populations. Depression is seen as readily identifiable in these patients, though it is probably a different entity than that seen in modal onset of depression in younger psychiatric populations. In elderly non psychiatric patients, depression is more likely to be situationally/relationship based, being related to medical and behavioral difficulties. Depression is seen as having a negative impact on patient treatment, though it does not clearly have an impact…on longevity in healthy, community-living older citizens. Aggressive treatment of depression in elderly patients is supported.
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Abstract: Falls are a common problem for older persons. This article reviews the consequences of falls, the age-related physiologic changes contributing to fall risk, and the medical and environmental causes of falls. The clinical evaluation of falls and fall risk and interventions designed to reduce both are presented.

Abstract: The development of a chronic illness, whether it is physical or cognitive in nature, has far-reaching implications for elderly patients and their spouses. While the plight of the patient, or care recipient, has been well documented, it has only been in the past ten years that the problems incurred by elderly spousal caregivers has begun to receive attention. In this article, difficulties experienced by elderly spousal caregivers, particularly women, are identified and a model for conceptualizing the three stages of caregiving are presented. The ways in which health care professionals can assist caregivers and alleviate their burdens and methods for…determining which stage of caregiving the caretaker may be in and the particular needs associated with each stage are also discussed.
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